


Blind In A World Of Make Believe

by PoltergeistPanda



Series: Soriku Week [2]
Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: Badass!Kairi, But only mentions!, Dates without being dates, Fluff galore, I tried to be funny i hope it worked, Kairi is a scientist bc ladies are hot in a labcoat, Kairi is done with their shit, M/M, Matchmaking, Mentions of angst bc i cant write angstless, Minnie is having the time of her life and Mickey hid away bc he's scared of the women in his life, Oblivious!Riku, Oblivious!Sora, Past Sora/Kairi - Freeform, Riku is a teacher, Romcom for beginners, Sora the Explorer, Soriku Week 2020, SorikuWeek2020, The boys are dumb, cute friends being cute, promise!, seriously, they can't be more obvious and still don't get it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-07
Updated: 2020-12-13
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:47:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 13,563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27934845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PoltergeistPanda/pseuds/PoltergeistPanda
Summary: "Just two weeks", she said."It will be fun.", she said."Just like old times.", she said.A matchmaking vacation in Disney Town, what can go wrong?
Relationships: Kairi & Minnie Mouse (Kingdom Hearts), Kairi & Riku & Sora (Kingdom Hearts), Kairi & Riku (Kingdom Hearts), Kairi & Sora (Kingdom Hearts), Riku & Sora (Kingdom Hearts), Riku/Sora (Kingdom Hearts)
Series: Soriku Week [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2045518
Comments: 22
Kudos: 39





	1. Dearly Beloved

_ Canon (A piece of music where each part begins the song at a different time)  _

Kairi doesn’t even knock when she storms into the office and slams her hands down on the table, making Master Ansem jerk up from his papers, “I’m taking a vacation. And Riku and Sora as well.”

“Kairi? What is this about?”, the elder man looks up at her and lifts his eyebrows, “Not that I mind, you haven’t had a vacation in close to a year, but… Does this have a reason?”

“Cabin fever in the lab. If I have to tolerate Ienzo’s rants about heartless types one more time, I will shove my keyblade where the sun doesn't shine. Also, Aqua sent Riku away for a month for a much needed break after he started showing signs for Burnout and Sora just got back from his mission, so… We need bonding time.”, Kairi crosses her arms and huffs, “Again, heartless types. I fought those things. I know them, I don’t need to go through another five hundred scans of them, when my specialty is dream and memory magic, this is not how flirting works!” Throwing her hands up, she sends a pleading look towards her boss, who sighs.

“And I miss my friends. Please?”

“Fine. How long?”

“A week? Two? Two. I still need to talk Master Yen Cid into letting Sora go for a while, but that would do.”

Ansem nods, taking out another pile of papers and offering Kairi a page, “Fill this out. You are going tomorrow, I presume?”

She lifts a thumbs up and grabs the piece of paper and a pen she digs out from her coat pockets, “I’ll let Namine know what I’m working on so she can keep an eye on my data. If anything arises, she has my number. Nothing should happen, it’s just basic dream monitoring and after we got the nightmare problem handled last year the Dream Eaters should stay quiet. But just in case.”

“How is Floofers?”, the man interrupts.

Kairi laughs. After they introduced the man to their dream eaters, Amsem may have fallen in love with the adorable little creatures and Kairi started working on maybe summoning the precious little spirits to the real world. It’s a slow progress, with little success, but if Sora can summon an avalanche of them, she might find a way to keep them materialized outside of their dream. 

“She’s great. Impatient, but great. Cookie is keeping her company during her pregnancy, so I work with Komory most of the time. Though I might steal Riku after the vacation for a test or two. Or five. Maybe it will work better if the actual summoner of the spirit is the one calling it to the real world.”

And she is going to steal Sora’s heartbinder for science. He won’t mind. If her plan works out.

The old man hums in agreement, and takes the paperwork back, signs it and smiles up at the young lady in front of him, “Then I hope that you will have fun. Where are you taking the boys?”

Boys, he says, like they are still fourteen and green behind their ears and not two masters in their respective fields. All three of them, actually.

Kairi grins, “Disney Town. Queen Minnie reminded me of the fair this year and I wanted to see the fireworks, at least. So why not make it a whole vacation with my friends?”

She blackmails Riku with puppy eyes and guilt trips. 

“Just two weeks, Riku.”, she pleads.

“It will be fun.”, her eyes grow larger with every word.

“Just like old times.”, she promises and crosses her fingers behind her back.

He relents within seconds. Must have been really bored after two days of his forced break. Aqua sighs in relief when Kairi drags both best friend and his suitcase out the door and mouths a “good luck” at her and Kairi sticks her tongue out at the older woman, who just tugs at her own jacket to indicate that Kairi is still wearing her lab coat.

She likes her lab coat. It’s fun how it swishes behind her whenever she turns and awes the younger apprentices. 

Once outside and in front of the gummi ship, Kairi pulls Riku down backwards and pulls his hair into a tight ponytail.

“When was the last time you cut your hair? And don’t tell me it was last year when I dragged you to my aunt’s.”, Kairi lets the hair tie snap shut and lets go, watches the man rise to his full height and pulls a face when she realizes that she is barely reaching his chest, “Please tell me you stopped growing. Do you even fit through doors now?”

Riku laughs and flicks her forehead and Kairi kicks his shin, if only because slapping him anywhere is too much of a hassle and she can’t reach the fun places. 

“Yes, barely and no, I had no time.”

“You didn’t take on any students this year, how is it that you have no time? You should have more time and not less!”

He coughs into his hand, “Terra needed help with lesson plans and we had to rebuild a whole staircase after Ven and Van managed to ruin it with one of their spars. Again. And I may have stolen one of Aqua’s students.”

“Start talking. We definitely haven’t talked in too long.”, her hands punch in the digits to open the gummi ship and Riku whistles at the wider interior, “Yeah, I asked Moogle about an upgrade. Felt too cramped, I didn’t like it.” 

She got two more beds installed, the fancy ones you can pull from the wall, with matching cupboards. Just in case they ever manage to do that world hopping trip they have been planning for ages. And since she doesn’t trust Sora’s Highwind with her life, well. Upgrade it is.

“Looks good. So, now…”, Riku falls into the chair beside hers and sends a longing glance to the empty one on the other side, a glance Kairi doesn’t miss as she revs up the engine and starts the ship.

Right, he doesn’t know that Sora's back yet, the poor guy arrived late last night and just managed to send Kairi a text before crashing. Riku would have called if he managed to text him as well, so she concludes that the silver haired man has no idea about their friend’s return and isn’t that a perfect surprise.

So she tells him only half the truth, “I still need to pick something up at the Mysterious Tower, so we’ll make a pit stop there and afterwards, it’s a short hop to Disney Town.”

“Isn’t that a five hour flight? In every direction?”, Riku asks and only gets a smirk as his answer.

Kairi plugs her phone in and her grin widens once Riku’s face contorts in realization. 

“The deal was that you never choose the music, Kairi!”

“My ship, my rules, Riku. And if I want to listen to cheery pop songs, you are listening with me. Have fun humming the whole playlist for the next few months!”

She cackles.

He only groans.

Sora is still out cold when they land and Kairi stomps off to the office with the air of purpose only a woman on a mission possesses. She leaves Riku in the ship to recover from his “five hour torture” and to keep jis surprise a secret and stalks up into the tower. Usually, Sora would spend a day or two recovering from jet lag, she remembers, then maybe another day or two preparing and then he’s off on another mission. That’s what ruined their relationship after all, the little time they spend together and Sora’s inability to say no to people in need. Which is what Yen Cid is abusing shamelessly and she is so, so sick of this. 

“Time to retire, old coot…”, she growls and slams the door open, voice rising, “Sora’s taking a vacation and I’m not taking no for an answer.” 

Both she and Riku have stopped showing the older man respect, after they realized the true extent of damage that possessing the power of waking has on its hosts, after they watched their best friend almost crash and burn from exhaustion and overuse of it. And Yen Cid knew, back then, in the war, what it would do to Sora. He knew, and he let that happen and that is one thing both Kairi and Riku will never forgive. And even if the older man had no idea, that still makes him the bone at fault for burdening Sora with a power that takes consequences and no prisoners.

She doesn’t hate this man, but she lost her respect the day Sora broke down in her arms and cried himself to sleep on Riku's shoulder after a particularly horrible nightmare.

They both did. Shame that Sora still answers to him, she would prefer Sora working for Mickey, at least that man knows when his people need a break.

Another point to talk to Queen Minnie about. 

Sora has been gone for two years on this reconnaissance mission and Kairi missed him dearly, even with all the calls and letters and packages they tend to send to each other through the Moogles. And Kingdom Hearts knows how much Riku must miss their favourite idiot if his workload is to be believed.

At least she and Riku manage to have dinner together once in a while, but seeing Sora? It’s a rarity these  _ months. _

And she is sick of this.

Time to shine. She lifts her chin, sets her jaw into an expression of forced calm and levels the old man with a glare of defiance, daring him to say something against her. If he says no, she is going to kidnap Sora.

Master Yen Cid is sitting behind his desk, as always and she stops right in front of it, “It is nice to see you too, Kairi. Why don’t you take a seat?”

“I’m not staying long, we will just grab our friend and be on our way. I hope you don’t have any new missions for him?”, she asks sweetly, poison dripping off her lips, a promise of disaster, depending on his answer, “It would be a shame if you had to cancel them.”

He gives her a hard stare, one she doesn’t even flinch at after almost three years of knowing Aeleus and  _ his _ resting bitchface. 

_ I’m not afraid of you. _ , her eyes flare, shoulders tensing and ready to attack,  _ this is not about you. _

_ He needs a break, you old fool. _

“He needs a break.”, she says aloud, “And I’m talking about an actual break and not one of your secret solitary missions. He needs his friends, an actual vacation. Fun. I assume you still know what those are.”

Triumph rushes through her blood when he twitches, sighs and nods in defeat.

And with no fight at all, surprisingly, in and out of the office in less than five minutes.

She doesn’t tell the man just how long she plans to keep Sora, that other plan just forming in the back of her head. She doesn’t say goodbye.

This has time, she has a more pressing problem up ahead right now. Namely, bonding time with her friends.

It’s still the usual room where she finds Sora, the other man freshly showered and with just a thin towel around his hips when she barges in and turns right on her heel with a scream, “Hearts, Sora! Put on some clothes!”

“You literally saw me regularly in less just over three years ago, Kai, why are you making a fuss now?”, he grouches and she hears the rustle of clothing and zippers until he gives her an affirmative “I’m dressed” huff so she can turn right back. 

And throw herself into his arms, “I missed you, stranger.”

He laughs into her shoulder, all warm and fond and gentle, happy, though still quite tired. she makes up for it with her own energy, squeezing him closer and breaking a rib or two. 

“I missed you too.”, Sora groans and curls into himself, “But do you have to prove that you can snap me in two if you want to every time we see each other?”

“Of course. Someone has to keep your ego in check after all, saviour of the worlds. Now. Off.”, she grabs his jacket and pulls it away, “No uniforms for the foreseeable future, we are going on a vacation. And there will be no fighting, no darkness, no work waiting for us there, just fun and friends and games.”

“But… I still have to debrief…”, Sora starts and quiets back down the second she glares at him, already at his wardrobe and throwing clothes into a bag, “Kairi, what did you do?”

“Nothing.”, she sing songs, “Just made sure that Yen Cid remembers that you are a human being.” Her lips curl into a smirk, then derail into something aghast once she sees just how little there is still left in the closet. “Sora, what the fuck did you do to your clothes? Where is all the stuff we bought last time? Don’t tell me you outgrew it, you are still a midget, we are still the same height. Why do you have five uniforms and not one more normal shirt left?”

“I.. tore… it… all? During the last mission?”

He sounds terrified. Good, she is going to kill him. Or… 

“If Riku’s old clothes don’t fit, I will kill you.” These two shared their room during the war and Riku left all his old clothes here after he moved into the Land of Departure after he outgrew all his old things. Yellow might not be the best colour for Sora, but it will have to do and seeing him in his old clothes will break Riku, so that could be a blessing in disguise. She shoves a shirt into his chest, “A little tight, but it will do. I just need you to have enough to wear until we can go shopping again.”

Sora’s panicked glance towards the window is beautiful.

Kairi finishes packing and leaves Sora with something comfortable to change into, dragging his suitcase out. Riku is already waiting for her and opens the door, confusion written all over his face.

“Guess what?”, she sends him a kiss, “Watch the door.”

Sora’s things are shoved into a free cupboard and she is out of the ship fast enough to catch both boys seeing each other and it is perfect.

Riku’s jaw drops, Sora blinks. Blinks again.

And again and then the little shit actually blooms when he realizes just who is standing there, screaming “RIKU!”, rushing forward and tackling Riku into the dirt. Who is still frozen solid. Maybe the skin tight tank top and shorts were a bit too much. 

“Eh.”, she shrugs and leans against the ship, waiting for her idiots to familiarize themselves with each other again, Sora positively cuddling the silver haired man, while Riku is slowly processing his arm full of his crush. 

How Sora didn't notice that is anyone’s guess, but hey, it’s still Sora, so why are they guessing again?

Why  _ Riku _ fails to notice Sora's feelings is an even bigger question. He is supposed to be the smart one.

Well, it seems like he lost his last two brain cells when he saw Sora, so… 

“Where were we? Right. Boys, We still have a five hour flight ahead of us and I’m not switching so if you could move your reunion into the gummi ship, I would be most grateful.”, she pulls at sora’s ear and kicks Riku’s side and both boys turn a ridiculous shade of red and scurry into the ship faster than she can say “cute”. Sora rushes out not even a second later and runs off to his own ship, they hear something banging inside and a curse that makes both young adults lift their eyebrows before the brunet comes back with a cactus and an ivy plant, “I almost forgot sunspot and Kooma! Now we can go!”

The plants find a place on Sora’s side of the console and Kairi finally allows a breath of relief when she allows the situation to hit home.

She has her best friends in her ship, ready to get a much deserved break and for once safe, healthy and with no pressure to return in time.

“Okay, everyone, buckle up. Next destination: Disney Town!”


	2. Always on My Mind

_ Duet (A piece of music played by two people)   
_

They pass the time with dumb road games and trading stories and looking for constellations. 

“So what’s a bomber again?”, Riku asks and gets a huff for an answer.

Kairi is the one to explain, “A type of monster in a few worlds. They charge up on heat when threatened, grow and go boom if you either destroy them or wait too long. It’s better to beat them because that explosion is smaller and easier to handle, but you can minimize the damage even more with an ice spell.”

Sora nods at that, “They were common in more worlds before the heartless went ballistic for the first time, and are now pretty rare. But their constellation remained!”

It’s the third constellation he asks about and Kairi is pretty sure he is doing it on purpose to keep them talking. She likes explaining and sora thrives in showing off what he learned on his travels, so she doesn’t mind in the end.

Sora starts on a ramble when they pass the moogle constellation, about new synthesizing recipes he’s found and then switches over to cooking and promises to make them a few dishes he discovered on his last mission. He is already looking better, livelier and happier and it drives the point home that the tower is not a good place for him. 

Sora’s hands fly around as he explains, almost socking Kairi once but she dodges just in time and retaliates by taking a sharper turn than strictly necessary. Which sends Sora sprawling over his chair and exposes his midriff.

On her left, Riku gasps and actually holds his breath. Dork.

Fondness rises in her throat, spills out in laughter and kind jokes, spreads through her body. Settles in her chest, curls around her heart.

She feels right at home here, in a gummi ship of all places, just because her boys are here with her. Watching them being nerds and laughing at whatever joke sora makes.

Somehow, the journey to Disney Town feels even shorter than the journey to the Tower and they jump out of the ship and stretch in almost no time at all. Kairi hisses at the morning sun and remembers that technically she has been awake for about twenty four hours and counting. 

She needs a nap.

The young woman leaves the boys to get their suitcases and waves to the tiny mouse woman waiting for them at the edge of the landing platform, smiling brighter now that they are at their destination, “Hey! Queen Minnie!” 

She is greeted with a chuckle and a pat on her leg once she reaches Her Highness, a soft smile and mischief in black eyes, “Kairi. It’s great to see you again. You look great!”

“Thanks, I can only give the compliment back.”, she glows, preens, behind her something crashes, “Please tell me it's a suitcase.”

Sora curses.

Minnie laughs, “Don’t worry, Sora just dropped one on his toes. Riku stretched.”

For fucks sake, Kingdom Hearts give her strength with these oblivious morons.

“How do they not notice, I can’t believe this…”, Kairi whines and breathes in, “Okay, that’s why we’re here. The hotel is…”

“Just down the street, you have a room for yourself, I hope the boys won’t mind sharing. I was so free and upgraded your room to a flat, so we can meet up without the hassle of everyone interrupting.”, the queen winks, “Also, I left your tickets to the fair on the desk in your room, don’t lose them!”

“Thanks, Your Highness. You are a godsend. We’ll check in and see you for dinner? I’m pretty sure that Sora will take over the kitchen once we’ve dragged our things inside.”, Kairi rolls her eyes when Riku calls for her, demanding that Kairi carries her own things, “Be a gentleman for once and take my things with you! I flew us here!”

“I offered to take over but you controlling hag don’t let anyone fly your ship!”, Riku screams back. Kairi flicks a small thunder spell at him. 

Minnie laughs.

They check in and Kairi predicts right because the second Sora sees the kitchen, he is all over it. She and Riku can only share a fond, exasperated sigh and Kairi orders Riku to go put Sora’s things away as well.

When he appears in her room minutes later and wordlessly lifts one of his jackets, she shrugs and leaves him with no explanation.

The whine she hears is worth everything and it takes all of her self control not to burst out into laughter. She suffered through literal years of gay panic, she is going to enjoy this, no one is taking Riku’s anguish away from her unless he finally grows a pair and confesses.

Or Sora, she isn’t picky.

Their flat is small, two bathrooms, one bigger living room and two pretty tiny bedrooms, all clad out in warm sepia tones and wood. They find a radio in one of the cupboards and a few board games Sora absolutely demands they play, whether with or without Mickey and Minnie. 

Before they do anything else though, Kairi crashes on the sofa and falls asleep to the sound of pots clattering and the soft murmurs of her friends in the background, Riku’s chuckling and sora’s rambling and two knives at work.

Life is good.

Until someone screams a few hours later and Kairi is on her feet, keyblade in hand and ready to strike.

Two pairs of eyes peer up at her, a blanket hangs off her shoulder and she sees her coat hanging over a chair. Sora is lying on the floor, frozen in riku’s headlock, both men wide eyed and just as startled as she is. Riku is missing his sweater and Sora’s tanktop is ridden up over his stomach, exposing some very impressive abs.

“What…?”, she gestures at them and falls back onto the sofa, stretching her legs around them.

Sora laughs, “We got into an argument about chocolate pudding and then Riku started tickling me, so I tickled back and then… well…”

“He wants to put coffee into chocolate pudding.”, Riku adds in the most deadpan voice.

Sora answers with a close mouthed screech, “It enriches the flavour!” He cries.

“And you will be even more hyper!”

“That’s not a bad thing!”, they are both heaving and Sora throws his hands up, “Fine, be boring. Who learned from Little Chef here, huh?” He sticks his tongue out at Riku and stomps away, Kairi levels the man left behind with a pissed glare, “I hate you. I just found Floofers in my dreamscape, you jerk.”

“How is she?”

“Still pregnant.”

Riku whistles, “Just how long do Dream Eater pregnancies go?”

“Long enough!”, Sora interjects from the kitchen, “Salad took ages until she had her babies!”

“Right, thanks for reminding me.”, Kairi claps her hands together, “Riku, I might need you after we get back. I have a theory about summoning Dream Eaters into the real world and I wanted to ask you if you’d be fine doing a few tests with Komory. Please?”

Riku ruffles her hair, “Sure. Aqua gave me the whole month off and I have to fill the time somehow.” He smiles, silver hair all over the place again and she pats the space between her legs. Once he’s settled down, she starts carefully carding her fingers through the tangles and braiding his hair, getting lost in the motions. Eyes burn into her back and she hums, looks up and meets sora’s eyes. they snap down and she finally witnesses that infatuated, blushing expression she’s been trying to catch, that “oh shit, he’s hot” face. 

Finally realized, huh.

She winks when he looks back up again, and the poor man blushes even brighter and hides away behind a bowl, ears still burning from her position. Riku himself is turning into putty in her hands and she enjoys the quiet, before the queen arrives for dinner and they officially start “Operation: Matchmaker” tomorrow. Her own hair tickles her cheek and she swipes it behind her ear, fastens Riku’s braid with a tie and pats his shoulder, “All done.”

He whines lowly in his throat and breaks a giggle out of her, Sora snorts behind his bowl.

Kairi missed this.

Dearly.

The fair is packed with all kinds of people when they finally arrive the next day, dog people and fox people and bears and cows and everything else. Five minutes in, Riku and Kairi start thinking about investing in a leash so they can keep Sora nearby who gets lost twice as he checks out all the stands.

When he finds the ice cream stand and the game it goes with… Kairi just leaves Riku with him with a threat to not let Sora out of his sight and runs off to meet the queen for a strategy meeting.

They find each other at the race court, and the girl almost doesn’t find the mouse lady in the crowd, if only because she changed into much more comfortable clothes. The polkadot dress is cute. Kairi still feels underdressed in her shorts and blouse, must be the queen’s aura or something.

“Your Highness!”, she greets and is shushed instantly.

“Just Minnie is fine, Kairi, please.”, the tiny woman smiles, “Now, how was your first night?”

“Slept like a baby. The beds are amazing. And Sora is already better off here than in the Tower, I’m pretty sure he actually slept last night.”, the red head huffs, “No news on the lover boy front, they are still dancing around each other.” Rolling her eyes, she looks over the race track. “I’m losing my mind with these two.”

“That’s why we’re here, after all.”, Minnie pats her leg with compassion, “What do you have planned?”

“I have a few ideas.”, something evil flutters over Kairi’s face, a smirk and a flash of deviousness, “Let’s hope one of them works, otherwise I’m confessing for them.”

“That… sounds like a threat.”

“It is a threat.”


	3. Another Side, Another Story

_ Counterpoint (Two individual melodies that complement one another when combined)  _

Riku might actually consider hating his best friend for this. The female one, not the cute one he hasn’t seen in two years.

First of all, she threw one of his old sweaters at Sora and now he is wearing this yellow monstrocity with the pride of a five year old who found his mothers make up. Only, he looks  _ good _ in it. Nevermind that it's still a size too small and stretches over his chest and arms, while still filling out the shoulders just fine, he is going to  _ kill _ Kairi for this.

_ Arms. Shoulders. _

Sora is sitting on the ice cream machine and shooting the scopes onto the tower, Huey cheering him on and Riku can’t help but watch the other man, his childish enthusiasm and the sun sparkling in his eyes. The way the light casts his hair in gold, shining off his skin in beautiful freckled galaxies. Sora doesn’t seem to notice him staring, as consumed as he is by the game, his hair shorter than he remembers, pulled back by a bandana to keep them out of his eyes. An eternal blue, the same colour as the sky at dusk in the Land of Departure.

He missed Sora.

And having him here, close enough to touch, is a torture he didn’t think he’d have just a few days ago. So now that he has this, these few moments with Sora, watching him have fun and smile and laugh, gleeful and bright, he is… lost.

Lost in sky blue and sunny yellow and arms strong enough to probably lift him without trouble.

Not that Riku is weak himself, he can still bench press Aqua with no problems, but… It’s something else when your crush looks like he carries around trees for fun. 

Sora probably did. Sora probably still does.

When the man in question finally cracks the high score, he screeches and is out of the seat in half a second, laughing and hefting Dewey on his shoulder, the boy screaming his congratulations. 

“Riku! Did you see that?”, his face turns down and heavens, he is beautiful.

It takes Riku to process the image of sunlight and white teeth and indigo bright kindness and joy, but he manages to answer before his stunned silence gets suspicious, “Yeah! That’s amazing!”

Now if only he was up there with the courage to kiss that smile, that would make this even better. But he is a coward, no matter what his keyblade’s name is and so he stays under the ice cream machine and soaks in the light shining off his heart.

It’s enough, it has to be.

Kairi magically appears beside him just as the kids offer them free ice cream for winning the game and pinches Riku’s side when he tries to object to her stealing his share, “You are going to share Sora’s ice cream anyway, he never finishes his, sooo You should make sure he chooses a flavour both of you eat. Strawberry, please!”

His indignant “Hey!” is promptly ignored and he stomps over to Sora, who is scooping a fifth ball of ice cream into his bowl.

Of course she is right. 

“Riku!”, Sora greets him and bumps Riku’s arm with his head, arms full with food, “I saw Kairi steal your ice cream. Wanna share with me?”

“She said that you never finish yours anyway, so yes, that was the plan. Are you done?”, he tries to check out the flavours, but the only colour he recognizes is chocolate and that’s that, “What did you put in there anyway?”

Sora looks down into the bowl, shrugs and chuckles, “Chocolate, of course, you love chocolate, the yellow one is passion fruit, green tea, cookies, almond, cherry, bubblegum and woodruff.”

“Wood… what?”, when Sora points to a vibrant green scoop, Riku just accepts his fate and leads him away, back to Kairi, who found an empty bench and draped herself over the whole space to keep their seats safe, “Thanks, Kai.”

Sora falls in between the two of them and Kairi steals a few spoons, offers Riku a taste of strawberry while Sora digs into his bowl of sugar. 

“Woodruff is a plant, by the way,”, Sora explains between mouthfuls, “It has a pretty intense flavour and makes for a tasty drink. I love it, but I met a few people who hated it a lot. Wanna try?” He offers his spoon to Riku, who tries not to think about the indirect kiss. They ate from the same spoon enough times that he really should stop caring by now. 

It tastes horrible, “You can eat that by yourself.”

“More for me!”, Sora offers Kairi a taste as well and she hums, then pulls a face, “Not yours either? Guess I can't make you that lemonade I was planning. Shame.”

He keeps digging into the ice cream under the watchful eyes of two disgusted friends.

Riku ends up finishing the passion fruit, cherry and chocolate ice cream and he is grateful for that small mercy. That green thing had been awful. Once done, they proceed to explore the fair, find their lunch in a small booth selling crepes and while Kairi and Riku eat their hearty, healthy ones, Sora digs into another mess of sugar and fruit.

“Why was I in love with a moron? Why are you still in love with a moron?”, Kairi murmurs into her food as Sora bites after a wayward strawberry. Riku flinches and glares down, “Can you please say that louder? I think the deaf lady on the other side of the street didn’t hear you.”

She takes a deep breath. Right, fuck. Riku closes it with his hand, “Please don't.”

The redhead licks his palm in retaliation, “You could just tell him yourself and spare all of us the pining.”

“Tell who what?”, Sora interjects and looks in between the two of them, Riku shaking his hand with a disgusted frown and Kairi smirking behind her hand, “What did I miss?”

Don’t cock your head to the side, please don’t...

Of course he does.

Before he can make a complete fool of himself, he shoves Kairi away into a bush, she yelps, making him burst out into laughter. 

She pays him back by kicking his feet away from underneath him and if it wasn’t for Sora catching him, Riku might have squashed Kairi. Instead, he is left staring at his best friend, far too close for comfort and Kairi giggling in between their legs.

“Let’s… go play other games.”, Riku offers and grabs Kairi by the back of her tank top, pulling her back to her feet, sending her a warning glare.

Their first few days pass in a flurry of even more ice cream, games and Sora kicking Riku’s ass at the shooting range. “One of my form changes is a pair of guns.” He flexes his biceps and grins wider, “So I have a little bit of practice. The drawback is different though, stronger? Heavier, rather.”

Riku maybe drops his own weapon at the sight.

Kairi slams her face into her freshly won plushie behind them and screams.

“So, what do you want, Riku?”, the bane of Riku’s existence and sanity asks and waves to the prizes hanging above their heads, “I can see if I can win it!”

“The… bat over there?”, the poor man finally rasps out and points to a big bat plushie with a point count that he will never achieve himself. He is already glad that he hit enough targets to warrant a consolation prize and now there is a little mickey emblem keychain clinking in his pocket, while Sora obliterates the targets again, absolutely radiant and perfect and, he is so, so gone for this man.

To think that they haven’t really seen each other outside of phone calls and he is still weak for his friend. What is wrong with him.

“Riku, your gay is showing.”, Kairi murmurs into his arm and Riku snaps his gaze away and down into her eyes, “His clothes won’t magically disappear, no matter how much you stare at him.”

“Do you have to?”

“Yes. Oh, a balancing competition!”, she turns on her heel, dashing off with the air of innocence of someone planning to rain hell on him, “ RIKU! SORA! You can win tickets for free rides! I want those and no cheating, I know that you still have glide and double jump equipped, Sora!”

The man in question laughs and takes the bat down from its place, the shopkeeper speechless, and offers it to Riku, eyes soft, “This one, right? It kinda looks like Komory.” Drown his heart in eternal blue, he will not survive this vacation if this keeps going.

No one told him that this balance parkour game would be fun, but Riku is definitely enjoying himself. Behind him, Sora crashes into the water again and he can hear a string of curses definitely not in Common and definitely disgruntled “You wanted to make this a race!” He calls back as an ice spell rushes past his ears. Riku jumps over to the other line, Sora’s old one and dodges the panels swishing into his face just in time to hear another spell bursting against the material. Kairi is cheering for them and the sound of hands scrambling up makes him go off in a sprint across the track, almost dancing out of the way of obstacles trying to push him down.

He gets to the finishing line when a Waterga hits his back and drenches him regardless of his win. Sora is standing, barely holding on, keyblade outstretched, something determined etched into his face, focused solely on Riku. 

Riku gives himself a few seconds under that gaze and then proceeds to cast Aero and watches Sora fly off the structure again.

He then gets his reward and hands the paper tickets off to Kairi before running off, as far away from the furious master breathing down his neck as possible.

Laughing.

She finds them in the town square, with both her and Riku's new toys in hand. Sora is wringing his top out and Riku’s hair is an absolute mess, both of them wet and bickering. She grabs Riku by his collar and pulls him to her instantly, manhandling him into a sitting position and fixing the tangles, the braids, adding one or five while lecturing Sora about ruining her work and Riku almost falls asleep right there, relaxed and content as he is. Kairi’s hands feel great in his hair, until they change into hands a little bit bigger, more calloused and much more careful.

“Exactly, then you take that section and put it there and then this and…”

“Into the middle like the one before, right?”

Is she teaching Sora how to braid his hair?

In the middle of the town? 

“Perfect. Hey, you can learn after all!”

Who cares, this feels heavenly.

“What’s that supposed to mean! I passed school!”

“Barely.”, he interrupts and smiles when Sora slaps his shoulder, “They open the rides tomorrow, right?”

“Right. Queen Minnie said that there were some technical difficulties, but starting tomorrow, the real fun begins.”, why does he not like the sound of that, “There is a new upside down ride I want to try.”

Oh no.

“That sounds great! Riku, we have to go tomorrow!”, Sora is shaking Riku now and the man feels his heart sink.

Oh no.

“I hate you”, he whispers into Kairi’s ear later when he goes to her room to pick up his plushie, showered and dried, “So much.”

“Because I can have nice things or because your gay panic is acting up again?”

“That sweater, Kairi. Plushies, you knew that he can shoot. Why do you do this to me…”, whining is definitely not manly, bus she saw him in worse states.

“Because you like it, smitten as you are with him.”, she falls back on her bed and kicks his legs until Riku settles down beside her, “You should have seen your face when he took the gun. It was hilarious.”

“Fuck you.”

“No thanks, not my type. But Sora is yours, so why don’t you... HEY!”

He definitely does not try to suffocate her with a pillow.

Not him.

Never.


	4. Hand in Hand

__

_ Symphony (A large piece of music designed for many different parts working together) _

“Rides! Rides! Rides!”, Sora cheers while they walk to the fair once again, “Water slides! Roller coasters! Haunted house?” He looks to Kairi, who is carrying the flyer. She lifts a thumbs up and chomps back down on her toast, Riku on her other side, pulling at the cuffs of his shirt.

“Haunted house!”, he keeps cheering. Laughter to his right, deeper, kind and his head whips to Riku, who is smiling at him, still far too tall for it to be fair, but oh so pretty. 

Sora likes the longer hair, the short hair was nice too, but like this, with the braids Kairi weaved in there this morning and that feather Sora found on his morning jog? Unfair. Really, really unfair.

Apropos, Kairi elbows him in his side and Sora sputters, “Hey!”

“Stop staring.”, she growls, “Unless you finally got that famous courage of yours back. Then feel free to confess.”

“Kairi!”, he hisses, his heart in his throat, looking around for Riku, just in case he heard, “Stop that!”

“I will stop once that fucking sexual tension stops, so please, do all of us the favour and talk. You were great talking feelings with me, why not him?”

Sora shrugs.

He wants to answer, because with you, I knew how you felt but Riku is much more difficult. He wants to answer, because I noticed your feelings change but Riku is still the same as ever so no matter how much you keep saying he likes me, I… don’t know if that’s true.

He stays quiet instead and Kairi groans and pulls him further down the street, off to the fair, Riku a few steps behind them, laughing when Sora falls over his two feet and pulls the young woman down with him. When he pulls them back up, Sora can’t help but cherish the lingering contact on his arm, leaning into the taller man’s touch for the fracture of a second before his brain catches up with his body and he tries to jerk away in the most natural way.

He probably fails.

“So, today we finally try out the rides and tonight I managed to get us a table at the Bistro. Little Chef is even in the house, so don’t you dare cancel on me.”, Kairi pulls up a wayward, “And tomorrow we are invited to the castle, so don't you dare cancel that.”

“Like I would miss a chance to see Little Chef.”, Sora huffs, and Riku laughs, “Like I would miss a chance to see Mickey.”

She glares at them and back to her flyer, “Sooo… Rides. We still have free tickets, thanks for that, Ri, and I want to try out those teacups no matter what. The upside down ones are somewhere to the right, waterslides are over there.” she points into a vague direction, then to another. “And the haunted house is over there. Please don’t forget the dinner reservations tonight, I still need to get you into actual clothes, so I see you back in the hotel room at 5pm sharp. or else.”

Sora shivers when she looks at him, “Yes, Ma’am.” How did he survive a year with her, he doesn’t want to know. 

Rides. He will just grab Riku and run for the rides.

Kairi sighs, “So, I’m off, Queen Minnie wanted to have lunch with me and Daisy, so you guys are on your own today. Have fun! Don’t do anything stupid and see you later!” Sora watches her run off and turns to Riku.

“So…”, he starts, “wanna start with…?”

So, Tartarus is evil incarnate and no one warned him that this roller coaster is a horror roller coaster.

No one.

Sora is screaming into Riku’s ear, fingers clawing at his side and arm while the silver haired man barely twitches and holds him closer. When a mummy jumps out from behind a pillar, Sora almost blasts off its head and if not for his friend’s very impressive speed and the very distracting arms, he would have.

He totally would have. 

Something warm curls around his hands and when he looks down, it’s pale warm fingers and scorching palms and Riku’s eyes almost hidden behind his fringe, “This okay?”

Sora can barely whisper his “Yeah.”, biting his tongue to keep himself from spilling out something dumb like “I forgot how beautiful your eyes are” or “Please kiss me” or something mushy and horrible like “I love you.”

Instead he blurts out a “Thanks” and “I bet I could have blasted its head into Disney Castle” to distract from the mood getting weird and somewhat charged and Riku throws his head back and laughs, open and gorgeous and wow, Sora missed this.

Laughing, smiling, Riku in his space, close and safe and sure.

He will have to kiss Kairi later for giving him this. 

She will probably tell him to shut up and confess.

They walk past the hautend house.

As it is, they finish the ride, then go on the next ride and the one after, all of them fast and freeing and fun, until they are standing in front of the first upside down ride and Riku slowly steps back.

“Sora, this looks a little bit bigger than…”, Riku starts, someone screams above them and a shole flies past his face, he pales even more than before, “I don’t want to do this.”

“Chicken?”

“Yes.”, okay, it must be really bad if the other admits it. Sora shrugs and grabs his arm, “Then I will go with Kairi later. Or tomorrow or something. Water slide?” Please say yes, please say yes, please say yes.

“Sure.”

Yes!

“Awesome!”, dragging the taller man with him, Sora's hand wanders down until he intertwines their hands, smiling to himself, his throat humming with a happy song. He should have gone on a vacation ages ago.This is great, or maybe it’s this great because his two best friends are here with him and he can spend time together with them. 

Like puzzle pieces on the floor, his mind scattered for once and empty, washed clean from the anxiety of the last few weeks.

He fits into the space at riku’s side and it’s soothing to be this close to him, soft enough to never want to leave again.

Sora regrets the water slides the second Riku walks out, drenched and wet and oh fuck,  _ he was wearing a white shirt _ .

White. Shirt. Fuck.

_ That chest though _ . 

Wheezing and desperate to play it off as joy from the ride, Sora keeps hanging over the railing and constantly ripping his eyes away from the sheer expanse of skin shining through Riku’s clothes. His throat burns and he really, really wants to touch that. So he grabs his best friends,  _ best friends,  _ arm and pulls him to the next water slide.

And another one.

Riku goes willingly, probably so Sora doesn't drag him off to his nightmares and it's still fun, really! They get those grilled corn things and Sora finds a stand with cotton candy and the day is bright and vibrant and gorgeous, so much better than the last two years combined.

This is good, his heart beats into his chest, it’s good and it hurts just a little, being with Riku, but in all the best ways being with your best friend, whom you have this horribly gross gigantic crush on, feels. Hurts.

It burns into his skin and settles in his bones, a little bit like coming home.

Only without the expectations and the terror of falling out of life at a moment's notice.

They stand in front of the upside down ride, it’s almost four and Sora hands off the rest of his cotton candy to Riku, “I’ll be right back!”

He smiles down and Sora nuzzles Riku's arm and rushes off towards the ride, ready to have fun and see if he can spot from all the way up there. Maybe he can even find Kairi! She still hasn’t appeared yet and Sora is slowly getting worried. not for her, the skies know that woman can take care of herself by now, but more for himself. Kairi unsupervised is never a good thing, especially when she is annoyed at him for some reason.

That’s how his mother met and adopted all of his friends after all. He had been worried about spending both time with his Mom and the others without ruining the world order and making everyone worry and Kairi had listened to him for five minutes and then decided that breaking the law for him was the best decision. to this day, no one dared to object to that. So now his mom knows the whole story and has found herself with a dozen more children than she started with.

Sora is up on the ride, an upside down rise and drop thing that reaches up and beyond and is about as fun as his favourite attraction when fighting. As in, the train. 

Now he wants to summon one of these things in battle. Could be fun.

His eyes roam over the crowd and spot a mop of silver hair, a faraway braid in white and yellow and he grins, “HEEEY! RIKU!”

The person, definitely Riku, waves up at him and Sora lets go of the thing holding him in place to wave back with both hands. 

Afterwards, everything is a blur iof colours and a whiole lot of blue and when he finally stumbles off the platform, riku is right there to catch him in a warm embrace, keeping sora steady until the world stops spinning.

“Worth it.”, he grins up and grins wider, “You found balloons!”

“Saw them while waiting for you and thought I’d repay the favour with the bat. It reminds me of Cookie.”, Riku points his thumb up to the balloon hanging off his wrist and loosens the knot, takes it off and ties it to Sora’s, patting the thin cord once he’s done.

The balloon really looks like a weird fat cat, all the wrong colours, blue, yes, but also this vibrant ugly pink and Sora loves it so much more for it.

He keeps grinning at it and laughing and Riku is smiling with him, fingers still on his skin, pads barely touching and yet wonderfully warm. 

Grounding.

Sora leans into this touch, revels in the attention and his world, small as it is, narrows down just to Riku and the summer day around them.

He wants to ride that carousel with him. It’s still full enough that they might have to share a horse. Or the tea cups! Those would be cute too! And fun. Mostly fun.

Just fun. 

“Carousel or tea cups?”, Sora’s hands reach up and push the fringe out of aqua eyes, “Thanks. For the balloon.”

“Tea cups sound good.”, Riku whispers, voice hoarse and low and Sora wants to pull him in, close and closer, until their foreheads touch. 

Close and closer. 

Catch his breath, release a sigh, he loves this man.

They get a little bit lost looking for the tea cups and at some point Riku just lifts Sora on his shoulders so they have a higher vantage point.

Sora sees the ride almost instantly then, but bosses his friend around a little bit more, fingers buried in soft silver strands, still mindful of the braids. After all, Kairi will know who did it and she will murder him if he ruins Riku’s hair again.

He just wants to spend a little bit more time with Riku, before they have to go to the Bistro. Surely, being a few minutes late won’t be that bad.

Dearly hoping that Kairi will forgive them for being late, sora finally directs Riku to the tea cups and mourns the loss of contact when he is lifted off broad shoulders and deposited back on the ground. Riku buys their tickets and Sora tugs at his drenched shirt, pulls at the two threads sticking out and follows Riku to a pretty blue tea cup, painted like an ocean, badly so but in this moment, it’s perfect.

Like they’re lost at sea.

Once the ride begins, Sora whoops and spins them around, ramming his head into a pale arm littered with thin, even paler scars, ones he can see only this up close, ones he can cherish in stolen moments in between. 

Riku fills the air between them with laughter and Sora gasps and stops breathing.

This is his best friend, the one he remembers. His riku, the one he saved in the realm of darkness. The one who threw a log at him and the one reaching out to sora whenever he falls flat on his face, with the sky illuminating him silver white.

“Welcome home.”, Sora whispers and Riku looks down, eyes furrowed in confusion.

“What?”

“Sorry, I mean, you looked tired the last few days and I just thought, you look better now. I mean, you always look good, but now you look… happy.”, Sora turns his head away to hide his blush, ears burning, “You feel like home.” He adds, quietly.

Warmth on his neck, not his embarrassment, a hand, carefully nudging him back, “Thanks. I do feel better.”, Riku chuckles, “Guess Aqua was right after all. I really did need that break.”

“Same.”

“So, we’re late.”, Sora starts as they stand in front of the door to their flat, hands raised over his head to make sure Kairi can’t hit him, “I am a little bit scared.”

“Frankly, I’m more scared of what she was planning with us in the first place, but okay. Us being late is bad too.”, Riku adds and opens the door.

Kairi is not inside.

Instead, they are met with two pairs of dark eyes, from two small forms in the living room.

A duck. A mouse.

Grinning up at them, “There you are! We were about to call Kairi and ask if she knows where the two of you disappeared to!”

“Queen Minnie? Lady Daisy?”, Sora wants to ask, he does, but when their grin widens into something vaguely malicious he refrains and instead turns his mind to wondering if he can jump out of the window before they can get their hands on him.

Riku grips his arm and hisses, “If you leave me alone with them, I will never forgive you.”

Hook, line and sinker, he’s staying.

“Fuck.”, they both whisper, “We are doomed.”


	5. Friends in My Heart

_ Harmonic (when notes are created and arranged in a way that gives them a pleasant sound)  _

Riku is shoved into Kairi’s room by Queen Minnie, her smile still terrifying and eyes sparkling with the joy of ruining a man’s life. 

He might be exaggerating. 

Maybe.

“So, the Bistro has a strict dress code and Kairi let us know that you two didn’t bring anything fitting so... Us girls were so free to get you suits. I hope they fit, having you boys with us would have made everything easier, but Kairi knows your sizes, so we had to work with that. Otherwise, well, that’s what magic is for, right?”, she winks at him and Riku gulps.

“Yes Ma’am.”

“So, I thought, with a tall man like you, we’d stay on the safe side and keep the cut classic.”, she starts rambling and gestures to the bed, “You boys match, for obvious reasons and since Sora looks terrible in white, we decided on black with your personal colours as accents. I laid everything out on the bed. Put it on. I’ll get you something to drink, alright?”, Minnie pats his leg, “You will both look great, don’t worry.”

Once she leaves, only then does Riku dare to take a look at the suit laid out before him. Well, black pants, white shirt, black vest with a jacket hanging off the chair beside the bed. A bright yellow tie and Riku is pretty sure that the handkerchief peeking out underneath a bag on his pillow has the same shade of yellow.

Hopefully he will be allowed to keep his shoes. 

Otherwise it looks sharp and actually, he might look good in this, impressive, especially if he manages to whip his hair into shape somehow. Hopefully, Her Highness will know what to do.

He puts the suit on, careful not to rip anything and he manages to remember what Aqua beat into his head a few years back. it had been his first time wearing a suit in years and she had sent Terra with him to choose one. Hilariously, both men had been useless and the clerk at the shop a saint, otherwise that fancy party would have been terrible… Even more terrible. As it is, Riku had just considered jumping out a window and disappearing into the night. 

As it is, Riku recognizes that the fit of his shirt is not quite right, a bit too tight around his throat, but the jacket seems to fit just right, his shoulders filling out just right. The vest is comfortable, he likes the pants. Still, his shoes are a problem, so he stays in his socks and waits for Minnie to return.

“She could have warned us.”, he murmurs and adjusts his cuffs, opens the door when Minnie knocks, “Do you want me to take this?”

She is carrying a tray with cookies and tea, smiling when she looks at him, “This is perfect! How does it feel?”

“Overdressed, but fine. The shirt is a bit tight and I'm pretty sure I messed up the knot in my tie… It’s been a while since I wore one of these.”, Riku takes the tray and sets it aside on the table, handing the Queen a cup of tea and settling down with one himself, “Also, shoes.”

“Under your bed, Riku, open your eyes. Now, let me fix this first.”, she stands on his bed, reaching up, hands hovering around his throat. Magic sparks and he breathes in deeper than before.

“Thanks.”

He needs to learn that spell.

“Gladly, love. Something is still missing, but I am not sure what it might… gloves! And your pocket looks too empty, let me…”

Minnie scurries across the bed, grabs the bag and digs around, her bow bobbing up and down, polka dotted and vibrant. Red, just like Sora’s usual choice of wear.

Faintly, Riku wonders what Daisy is doing to the other man, though he hasn’t heard screaming yet, so he must be okay.

Minnie gives a small sound of triumph and throws Riku a pair of black gloves, soft leather curling snug around his hands, “There you go. The only thing missing is… Aha! Handkerchief!”

She folds the small square, puts it into place and pats the bed, stepping behind riku once he sits down in front of her. Her fingers open his braid carefully and she sighs, voice wistful and gentle, “the things I would do to have hair like this and you just go and let it go to waste like this. riku, you need to take more care of it.”

“Honestly, Your Highness, I would cut it if possible, but I forget most of the time and when I remember I don’t have the time.”

“Shame. It suits you. you look sophisticated with longer hair, elegant. Though I must say, the short hair look gives you quite the dangerous charm. No wonder Sora can't take his eyes off you.”, she giggles and pulls out a brush, snaps a few hair ties around her wrist.

Riku’s heart stops.

Beats faster. Harder, until it threatens to burst out of his chest and into his hands, ready to travel the distance across the flat, right to the man in question, “Please not you too.”

Minnie laughs, “Why not? It is quite obvious, I must say. You are a dashing young man and a good person to boot, no wonder you caught our young hero’s eye.”

“Sora doesn’t like me like that. We’re best friends, that’s all.”

“Are you really?”, Minnie hums, settling down on just brushing Riku’s hair and pulling a few strands back so none falls into his eyes, “There you go, all done.” she pats his arm, smiles, eyes gentle, “Go get him, tiger.”

Someone is talking outside and Riku thinks it’s Sora, but it could be Daisy for all he knows with his blood rushing to his face.

“Thanks.”, he manages to force out.

then he sighs, adjusts his gloves, slips into his new shoes and walks out.

And maybe faints for a second.

So. 

He might have repressed this thought.

Let’s face it. He looks good in a suit.

But Sora is not allowed to take his off now.

It’s the same ensemble, only without the vest and with red accents, and Daisy is magical, more magical than all of them combined, because she somehow managed to tame Sora’s hair into an elegant style, fringe swept to the side, artfully messy? Riku is honest enough with himself to say that he is speechless enough to not be able to form words. Also he lacks the official fashion knowledge. Sora's hair looks controlled alive, not the usual rat’s nest. Good. Great.

Hot. 

Fuck.

Sora looks up, blinks and grins wider, “Riku! We match!”

Yeah, Minnie mentioned that.

Riku hates it with passion because that means that they belong together, for this evening and he is terrified what it will do to his poor heart.

Play it cool, Riku, you risked your life for this boy, you can’t die just because of a simple dinner. It's just the man you went through hell for and the one you loved all your life. 

It’s just a dinner.

Nothing more.

“Kingdom Hearts grant me strength.”, Riku breathes as Sora latches onto his arm and waves to Daisy, “Thanks for the help! Come on, Ri, I know where to go. Kairi must be waiting already.”

“Where did she change anyway?”, Riku asks, “Wait, where  _ is _ Kairi anyway?”

“You’ll see!”, Daisy waves back and closes the door behind them and Riku is sure that they are giggling behind their backs.

He can practically hear them.

Sora tugs on his arm, “Riku?”

“Yeah?”, he looks down, into eyes an ocean blue and his thoughts burst into bubbles again. 

Breaths wrapped around his throat, words squeezing out and falling from his lips unsaid, small things like “you look great” and “please don’t leave again” and “My sun rises with you”. Mushy things. 

Happy words.

Gentle touches on his skin, branding his heart into Sora's possession, just like it has been all these years.

Loving him is far too easy.

Far too easy.

They reach the bistro and by now Riku should know that something is amiss when they are ushered inside without so much as a “Table for two” comment and a welcoming smile. Sora greets the waiter, waves into the direction of the kitchen and settles down into his chair, almost popping his jacket buttons off with the force of his movement.

Riku sits down far slower, used to the feeling of the fabric and how it stretches around his midriff, barely, but enough.

There are only two sets on the table. A pretty white flower in the middle of the table, Riku’s phone buzzes in his pocket.

It’s Kairi.

“Something came up, I can’t join you.”, is all she writes and Riku finally, finally understands.

He is going to kill that meddling woman, even if it kills him.

She set them up. On a date. Which is not a date at all because this is Sora and he is Riku and they don’t… He can’t…

“Kairi’s not coming.”, he growls and Sora perks up, eyes wide, “Didn't she threaten us to be here on time?”

“Yes. something came up apparently.”

They look at each other, snap their eyes away and blush.

So, this is awkward.

Riku had hoped that having Kairi here would distract him from Sora, but she isn’t here now and they are alone and there are blue, blue eyes right there.

He could stare. Surely the other won’t notice.

He lets Sora order for them. 

It ends up not being a disaster, Fish and a salad, breadsticks, several smaller dishes the waiter brings them with a laugh and “Greetings from the chefs.”. The brown haired man wolfs it down without complaining and steals all of Riku's tomatoes. Not that he doesn’t hand them off voluntarily, Sora knows about him not being all that fond of living tomatoes. Now that he thinks about it, in their last few dinners there had never been any in their food. 

Sora actually thought of him while cooking, so when the other man pushes his onions aside, Riku takes them and winks at his best friend, “So we don’t offend Little Chef, right?”

They laugh at that, keep eating, order dessert and enjoy that and it’s an easy evening, filled with smiles over a candle slowly burning down to a tiny stump. Sora rants about his last mission, the things he learned and whatever dumb stunts he pulled off for whatever reasons. Something about a giant crab and underwater fights with an island god?

The room glows gold and spreads over Sora’s cheeks in a dusted blush. Seeing him like this, radiant and glowing, it gives Riku all the years lost worrying right back and he wants to freeze this moment and live in it forever. It also makes him want to turn back time, to the days spent running on the beach and playing with toy swords.

Sand between their toes, leaves in their hair, fire on their tongues and starlight in their hands. Back when they were innocent.

Before the fall, before the war.

Before Sora got lost in constant work and missions and Riku deep dived into teaching to get away from his heart.

Mostly, he just wants to kiss him.

His eyes sweep over the restaurant and he takes in the soft decor, the quiet atmosphere, Kairi’s smile gleaming behind the window… to… the… kitchens.

The little…

She meets his eyes head on and lifts her eyebrows, wiggles them suggestively and nods to Sora. Who hasn’t noticed Riku talking to their other traitorous best friend via wiggling and facial expressions, busy as he is chatting with the waiter. 

“Confess, coward.”, Kairi mouths through the glass and her face scrunches up into something resembling fury, but looks adorably sour in the distance. Riku shakes his head and bares his teeth at her, she shows him the finger, he sticks his tongue out at her. He watches Kairi heave a sigh, jaw probably trembling with barely contained annoyance. His phone buzzes and he ignores it. It buzzes again.

“I hate you.”, he reads and snorts, glances up at Sora, who is looking at his own phone, face beet red and eyes wide. 

“Sora?”

“Kairi is mean to me.”, he whines and shoves the offending technology back down, falling back into his chair, obviously sulking.

“Want to pay and get out of here? We might still catch a ride or two.”, it’s just an idea he offers, to cheer the other man up a bit and it works like a charm if the way Sora perks up like a puppy is to be believed. 

Paying for the meal is an ordeal in itself with both men trying to one up the other and pay for the whole thing, Riku citing his better salary and Sora just slamming the munny on the table and shoving Riku’s hands away, keeping a hold onto them until the waiter is long gone.

Riku vows to pay for their rides for this.

He manages to do that on the carousel, but Sora once again beats him to the punch by getting the tickets for the next roller coaster and in the end it’s just a race from one ride to the other, switching around and arguing on the way there.

Until they are standing in front of the ferris wheel, Sora thrown over Riku’s shoulder and protesting vehemently that it’s his turn and Riku, please let him down, this is embarrassing.

Of course he grips his legs tighter. The clerk laughs at their antics and Riku girns back, winded and probably a mess and he loves this.

He throws Sora into the booth and climbs behind him. Fixes his collar while his friend scrambles onto the bench and desperately tries to get that exploded mop of hair back into order.

If he is perfectly honest, he likes the mop even more. So he reaches out, bats those hands away and ruins the style even more, ignoring the outraged “HEY!” and the fingers scraping at his own.

His eyes meet Kairi’s just outside the booth, he recognizes her soft smile turning vicious and the tiny queen talking to the clerk, vaguely gesturing their way.

Riku feels cold dread rising up his throat.

Oh no.

Please no.

“They planned this.”, he whispers and when Sora turns his way with the question written all across his face, rkiu groans and hides his face in his hands, skin burning, “They planned this.”

“Planned what?”

Their phones buzz again and Riku pulls it out with a longsuffering face twisting his features into the resting bitchface his friends seem to love.

The text is simple.

“Talk.”

And once the Ferris wheel reaches its highest point, the whole machine… stops.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two more chapters XD
> 
> Might post the next footprints together with the last chapter, if I find the time to edit both.


	6. Link To All

_ Key (rules for characteristics that set the tone of a piece of music)  _

Sora watches Riku’s face, the way he twists his mouth in wry disdain and his eyes cool into something calculating.

His own phone is clutched in his hand, Kairi’s “Talk” branded into his heart. 

“Why did the wheel stop?”, Sora is up on his knees and presses his face against the glass, behind him Riku chokes on air, “Did something happen?”

“Yes. Kairi.”, he sounds deadpan and tired, “Kairi happened.”

“Kairi broke the Ferris Wheel?”, he whirls around and catches Riku’s eyes snapping upwards, “Why would she do that?”

“Talk” echoes in his head, rattles around until it settles in a grip around his throat.

Oh. So that’s what she wants. 

“Because she is a meddling little witch?”, Riku falls back and loosens his tie, sighing in relief, Sora traces his features, watches them soften, “She…”

“Talk. She wants us to talk. I got a text.”, he waves his phone and sets it aside, “I…”

Where do you start? 

How do you confess? With Kairi, it had been easy, words repeated in a new context and given life with a kiss, but here? Nothing he ever said fits, no “You’re here”’s and “I looked everywhere for you”’s and “best friends”. 

He wants to take the words and wrapo them up in light and press them to riku’s throat, promises and oaths and confessions, a prayer to his church, but nothing comes to mind.

“I love you” doesn't cut it.

“I need you” feels too close to his heart and “I want you” has a connotation he is not yet ready to explore with his friendship maybe at stake.

Sora still wants to be friends. He also wants to kiss Riku.

Eyes meet over the room of a tiny booth and snap away, shoves his hair back, they both breathe in.

One breath, one life.

“Sora” “Riku”

They start in unison, cringe back, try again, “I…”

“You first.”, Sora offers, grabs Riku’s hand and pulls him closer. His Confessions are secrets shared between the two of them and he wants to breathe Riku in, bury himself in his throat, listen to his voice vibrate in the broader chest. In his suit, he is even wider, stronger and Sora fits just right into his side. Riku wraps an arm around him.

Close and closer, gentle, warm.

“I…”, raspy and deep, low and quiet in the room, “Sora, I…” 

Silence descends in between the two of them, both men buried underneath their thoughts, Sora casting words here and there, still unsure about the why or how.

If Kairi is wrong then he might lose another tether to home, but he wants her to be right. He wants this easy closeness to mean everything, he wants.

He wants.

So he snatches a loose piece of fabric and tugs it back into place, just a fold in riku’s shirt, a peace offering hidden behind a touch, imploring to accept and a plea to forgive.

“Sora…”, Riku starts again, “So, I just realized that this whole vacation was a ploy from Kairi to bring us back together.”

“Yeah, she wanted bonding time with us.” 

“Sora, we’ve been here a week and I remember Kairi with us for one day exactly. Otherwise it’s been just us.”, he drives his hands into silver hair and Sora wants to do that himself, but this is a serious situation. Riku looks distressed and his gace catches time and time again on his phone, he groans, “I’ve been… I guess we’ll be stuck here until I talk, so … Please don’t hate me.”

Funny, Sora wants to start his confession like this.

“Sora, I’ve been in love with you for sixteen years.”

Wait what.

“And not in the “I love you as my friend” way.. In the “I want to kiss you senseless and stay by your side forever” way. You are still my best friend, no matter what, but you were also always my only choice.”

Wait, what.

“Wait what, Riku…”, he is breathless, heart hammering a morse SOS into his ribcage, wait wait wait, Riku, this can’t be…

They are both idiots, aren’t they? Everything crashes down around sora, memories bombarding his skin with shivers cast in fondness, every smile Riku ever gave him, every moment shared, their adventures and battles reforged in an new light.

Oh.

Daisy was right. 

Kairi too.

All this time lost just because they were both absolute morons. Kairi is going to tease him until their wedding about this, but it’s worth it.

Sora throws himself face first into Riku’s chest, wraps his arms around the shoulders he’s been salivationg over for naught, wow he was so dumb, he can’t believe this. 

“Me too.”, he croaks and presses himself closer, “I… me… too. I missed you and I want to be with you all the time and I…”

I don’t want to go back to the tower.

I don’t want to be away from everyone for another two years.

“I wanted to say that too. That I love you. Kairi’s been bullying me to confess to you for ages and…”

Laughter above him, disbelieving and quiet, echoing off the walls until it reaches Sora's heart, “No wonder she has been this adamant that we talk. She has been watching us for…”

“Years. We are both stupid. Kingdom Hearts, we are stupid.”

“Morons”

“Idiots.”

“How did we manage to save all the worlds? Three times?”, Riku snorts and squeezes Sora’s sides, who settles down in his lap and burows his face into white fabric. 

“No idea. Had help.”, his head is empty now, whispering “Riku Riku Riku”, painting it all over his chest, a magic spell of affection and adoration and he wants to reach up and…

Riku presses their foreheads together and Sora sighs in relief and this is perfect. Just right. Small hands wander into silver hair and pull it loose, allowing it to fall around them like a curtain. 

Just right, just right.

Lips press to his cheek, temple.

Just right, just right.

“Sixteen years, Riku?”, Sora giggles, smile pressed into the hollow of a pale throat.

“Yeah. There was this brief period where I wanted to have a crush on Kairi, but then you went and smiled at me again and all the ideas went out the window.”, so this is why Riku never changed, huh.

He has always been the same and so obvious.

Why didn’t he notice?

Fingers drum against his lower back, trace the seams of his jacket, Riku nuzzles his hair, “What did Daisy do to your hair?”

“Burned me with her hair straightener and then put a ton of hair gel in there. It’s all pointy, I know.”, this is nice, a mountain off his shoulders, chest blown full with feelings, all good for once, only the yearning is still present.

And easily alleviated.

“It looked great. Feels awful right now, though.”, Riku presses a kiss into his hair and sora  _ melts _ from all the touches, small and insignificant as they are. He still loves this, it's still easy and he is so, so glad that in the end, nothing seems to change.

He can kiss Riku now, though.

He wants to.

“Yours are still soft.”, Sora pulls at a few strands framing their faces and laughs, “You weren’t burned with a hair straightener and then almost drowned in hair gel.”

Riku puffs breath into his face and blows it back, Riku pokes his side and Sora shrieks and pushes back, but there is no escape from the big hands buried in his skin, scorching him into obedience and laughter, ripping out of his throat in peals and gasps.

Lips press onto his pulse point and Sora whines, the cheater.

“You cheated.”, he wheezes, “Cheating, I tell you! Evil!”

Riku just blows a raspberry there and Sora almost falls off his lap in his attempt to flee.

Something explodes behind them in a flurry of colours and both men turn around.

Sora exclaims “Fireworks!”, Riku whispers “Those women went all out, didn’t they?” 

Fingers, palms find each other in between them and Sora is the first to squeeze, his beloved,  _ his beloved _ fast to follow and it soon becomes another competition just between the two of them, squeezing each other's hands faster until they just hold on tight and watch the fireworks.

It’s perfect, this is perfect.


	7. Don’t Think Twice

_ Coda (the “tail” of a piece of music that brings it to a conclusion)  _

When her boys send her the selfie, Sora's lips pressed to Riku’s cheek and both of them flushed and smiling and way happier that they have any right to be, Kairi just lifts her hands for her two friends to high five.

“They actually did it.”, she cackles, “Finally!”

Minni giggles beside her and pulls her arm down to look at the picture herself, “They look happy. And it only took me abusing my power as the queen of this world.” Daisy clears her throat, points up, where fireworks are exploding and all three of them look up to the highest point of the ferris wheel, Minnie gives the clerk a thumbs up and he salutes back.

With the wheel back in motion, Kairi concentrates on the sky bursting into rainbows, brilliant and radiant and blended into perfection. Like Floofers and Cookie and Komory. Like their little trio of fools.

It takes a few turns of the Ferris Wheel until her friends step out, glowing and Sora smiling wide and alive, Riku looking down at him like someone turned his world upside down and gave him the greatest gift possible.

She is so going to demand dinner for this. Cooked by Sora, Riku would get her killed, but she will accept all three of them eating it. 

Sora is swinging their hands between their bodies, talking his  _ boyfriend's _ ear off and Kairi squeals when Riku bows down to kiss his forehead, when Sora blushes and they smile.

Dopey and soft and giddy with feelings and she is so, so proud of them. even if it took Riku close to sixteen years to finally go for it. Or Sora his three. Whoever confessed first.

Probably Sora.

She waves at them, Riku lifts his free middle finger and Sora waves back and she grins.

When they reach her, Riku ruins Kairi’s hair, “I’m not sure if I want to hate you or thank you.” His fingers hover over her head and she wants to press up into it. 

“Both?”, she answers, pulls both of them into a hug, “Finally, you jerks.” Pressing kisses to their cheeks, she turns around, leaves them a bit more privacy, listens to their sounds of indignation and Sora’s steps, trampling fast enough to foresee his arms winding around her neck, “What is that supposed to mean?”

“Sora, I watched Riku for sixteen years. Sixteen. And then you ass had to go and fall in love with him and then go on a two year mission and I listened to that bitch wax poetic about your smile  _ for hours, Sora. Hours. _ ”

Sora slowly turns to Riku, his smile turning viciously bright and she knows that the dork behind them gasps. “My smile, huh?”

Riku kicks her in the back of her shins, “Traitor.”

“Sixteen years, Riku, and you made the mistake to give me ammo.”, Kairi dodges another kick and pulls Sora with her, “Well?”

“I’m happy. “, good boy, he knows what she wants to hear, “Thanks. You are evil, but thanks.”

“To be honest, if the Ferris Wheel had failed, I would have confessed for both of you and left.”, Kairi snorts, “Seriously, fighting Xehanort was nothing compared to you two dense, little…”

“Language, Kai!”, Riku

“Yes, Mom!”, she calls back and turns to Sora, “I really was about time. And now I can bully you into quitting at Yen Cids and start working under Mickey or something.”

“Kairi…”

“Don’t. We had this talk, I’m always right. right?”, she elbows him in the side and shoves him back to Riku, “Go, be cute with your  _ boyfriend _ .”

“KAIRI!”

She laughs and catches up to the Queen walking further away, smiles down, “Thanks, Your Highness.”

“Anytime, Kairi. I must say, I had fun and this was a great break from my usual duties. I believe I will see you tomorrow?”

“All three of us, if I’m not disturbed by finding those dorks in bed together. Seeing Sora naked once this week was enough.”

Behind them, Sora screams “KAIRI!” and she sends him a kiss, one Riku answers and Sora just pulls his  _ boyfriend _ closer to kiss his cheek and lift his hand in a distance high five.

Finally, she can finally use all the teasing material she collected over the years. But they will get a break today. 

Tomorrow she can annoy them all she wants.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's it for this week. Now, lets go back to the angst, the next chappie of Footprints is online and I have another OS coming my way XD  
> This lockdown may have been the best thing happening to me since finding my idiots. 
> 
> I wanted to implement that "kiss me once, kiss me twice, kiss me three times, cross the line." part, but the chapter fought me tooth and nail so I'll abuse it somewhere else. I might have an idea where already :33

**Author's Note:**

> Be grateful i didn't whip out that ff15 crossover angsty mess out for this. or don't. 
> 
> This will be a fun catastrophe, you have no idea. XD Beware: Switching POVs, technically, depending on who I want to write, no consistent writing style... Sora being dumb. Kairi cursing and enough thrist that you could think they are stuck in the sahara.
> 
> I'm planning short chapters for this so I can keep up but i noticed that short is starting to be... a very unreliable phrase. Also, a few nods to my other fics, you'll see. You could see ithis as a future AU for OSOD, but not necessairly.
> 
> Title is from Illusion and Dream by Poets of The Fall


End file.
